


Oh, How Money Shines

by SilverFliesInBlueSugar



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - High School, Child Neglect, Eating Disorders, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Introspection, Introversion, M/M, Megalomania, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Political Expediency, Self-Harm, Semi-Dystopia, Slow Burn, Violence, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17056946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFliesInBlueSugar/pseuds/SilverFliesInBlueSugar
Summary: I am Oscar Pine, illegitimate son of Ozpin Hallow. I am 14 years old and starting at school for a brief 2 years. I have been homeschooled for most of my life. This is my story.





	Oh, How Money Shines

"You'll do well, won't you?" his father murmered. Oscar bit back a retort. "Yes, father" he said quietly. His father turned slightly with disbelieving earthen-coloured eyes. "You are certain? You do not sound sure of yourself"

Oscar clenched his fists tightly, scowling. "I will. I am certain"

His father smirked. "Of course you will. I did not expect less. And i do hope i will not be dissapointed." his voice shot shivers down his son's spine. He turned and waved dismissively at him. "Off you go now. And adjust your collar."

Then his father left, and the boy spat on the floor, glowering. He pulled out a book he had been working on. Not a book for anyone else. Just a recounting he liked to have on hand. If he dissapeared, people would know why.

He lowered a pen to the page.

'I am Oscar Pine, illegitimate son of Ozpin Hallow. I am 14 years old and starting at school for a brief 2 years. I have been homeschooled for most of my life. This is my story.'

He clipped the notepad closed and reached to his collar, adjusting the nuisance of a tie his father insisted on him wearing.

He despised it. Despised the entire uniform.

The school wasn't the most prestigious out there, but it wasn't chosen soley for it's merit, although it was ranked #4 still. His father would not settle for anything below the top #5. It was chosen also for it's proximity. It lay next to the river Mal, along which his father's primary factory stood. The noise was apparently noticeable for the school but nothing all too distracting. When you stood on the banks you could see the goliath structure almost looming over, despite being hundreds of meters away. Smoke ploughed so intensly from it's chimney's that the surrounding sky was blanketed in thick clouding.

Oscar often liked to jokingly think to himself that this factory alone could bring about global warming.

The reason his school needed to be so close to the factory was that his father had better control that way. And his father was entirely about control.

He stepped out of the taxi he had been provided and looked up at the school. It was quite imposing in it's own right, albeit never enough to match the factorie's stature.

He walked up to the open gate, where other children flocked in, and frowned. It would be quite a pain to extricate himself from such a dense mass of people. Tutting, he tapped his foot and decided to wait until the swath lessened somewhat. He doubted he would be late even with this wait.

Then a lithe finger tapped him precosiously by the shoulder. He span around in an instant, but was calmed at the sight of a simple girl, looking to be about his age, although a good inch shorter. She had unevenly styled black hair with dyed red tips and grey eyes. While she wore the regular uniform she had tugged a black jacket over it, and underneath her plaited skirt she wore leggins instead of tights.

Odd alterations, but very character establishing.

"Hello! Are you new?" she chirruped, and he blinked at his immediate thought of her likeness to a bird. A small one, certainly. A robin. Yes, she reminded him of a robin.

Oscar was quite fond of birds.

He placed a calm, open smile on his face, folding his arms uncomfortably behind his back, tugging at his own sleeves. "Yes, i am. My name is Oscar Pine. And you?"

She blushed a little and averted her gaze at how affrontly he looked at her. He admitted secretely that he knew he... Lacked some social grace. But he more than made up for it in intellectualism. She smiled brightly again at him after a moment. "Ruby! Ruby Rose! Do you know what class you're in?"

He opened his bag and pulled out his laminated timetable, scowling at the little notes addenum each day, reading 'after school study: mathematics' and the like. Kind of his father to not bother to ask what he himself wanted to do. Shaking his head mentally at getting off topic and mentally filing away that he would rather like to take his father up on this later, his eyes scrolled to the little notations in the top right corner, citing his class, year and name. He looked up at her from the paper. "10b5. You?"

"Oh, 10b4!" she beamed. "I'll be in the tutor room next to yours! I'll be sure to say hi every morning, then!" and then gave him one of the most sincere little grins he had ever received.

He smiled slightly lopsidedly, amused. "Well, if that's really something you want to commit to" he chuckled quietly. "I look forward to seeing you from now on, Ms. Rose"

Her smile drooped slightly. "Aa- don't call me that, please, Ruby is fine. And, umm.."

Just then the bell rang, cutting her off.

"Oops! I'm gonna be late, seeya later Oscar!" she beamed before turning and sprinting off.

He smiled slightly before wiping it off of his face and plasting on the best look of professionalism he could muster. Getting barely 3 hours of sleep last night wasn't making him all too cognitive to keep up an act for a day. Whatever. It wasn't a choice, not for him.

He bit his lip harshly to zone in and walked carefully into the school, thankful that the crowds had nearly entirely dissapeared, only a few late stragglers rushing in after him.

×+×+×+×

His first class was Mathematics, and of course he had automatically been placed into one of the higher sets. Not the highest, no, not by far, but certainly above middling. His teacher, a stern looking man who went by Mr. Flintworth guided him to the front with a hand on his back. The entire class looked up at him curiously, some with recognition and thus fear and some with confusion. Suddenly it struck him how thankful he was that Ruby didn't seem to have recognised him. Otherwise he mightn't have gotten such a pleasent conversation.

He was.. Recognisable to some extent. Not much, on the level of perhaps a tv presenter. Most knew him, some were lucky enough to not have to, out of range of his father's corporate presence.

"Introduce yourself, please" the teacher reprimanded as he spaced out and he jolted into reality, smoothing his face over. "Hello, my name is Oscar Pine" he folded his arms in front of him. "Nice to meet you"

An awkward silence before he was sent to his seat, against the wall near the door. He somewhat wanted a window seat, but begrudgingly knew that using his father's influence to get somethting as petty as a preffered seating errangement in high school was... Bratty, to say the least.

So he pushed it to the back of his mind and focussed entirely on the lesson, even as a distant part of him still longed to see the outdoors he loved and longed to be surrounded by more than he was often permitted to.

He especially liked tending to gardens.

Not that he was ever allowed to.

×+×+×+×

He saw Ruby Rose at lunchtime. She ate spectacularly for one so thin, and he couldn't quite quash mild envy.

He looked down at his lunch tray and with a scowl tipped it into the bin, forgoing it to simply sit next to his newfound acquaintance.

Just as he was about to seat a girl jumped down before him, with rather startlingly long blonde hair that was obviously unbrushed. She looked sheepish at taking his seat for a split second before ignoring him to talk to Ruby. He frowned and sat next to her, trying to listen in.

"So, lil sis, how have you been gettin on? No trouble from Cardin, right?" the blonde asked, sounding concerned. Oscar frowned. Lil sis? As in sisters? They looked... Not even remotely alike.

"Nahhh, Yang, i told you not to worry" Ruby shook her off, clearly nervous, averting her eyes. "You told him to peeve off and he did. Promise"

Oscar had never heard such a blatant lie. This girl wasn't getting a future in acting it seemed.

Yang seemed sceptical and opened her mouth to press the matter before noticing him again and turning to him with a mostly falsified grin. "Heyo! My name is Yang Xiao Long, how about yourself!"

He shook the proffered hand she gave him and nodded politely. "Oscar Pine. Glad to make your acquaintance"

He was about to follow up on how he didn't understand their apparent sibling relation if they had differing surnames, but stopped as he met familiar eyes across the room.

His mouth moved before his brain did.

"Oh fuck"

**Author's Note:**

> Review and give kudos if you liked this! If people seem interested I'll make more ^_^


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